Okay, so...handling life after realm divide...

[Othniel]

I'm playing as the Date clan. I got up to about 12-13 provinces, plus a few vassal provinces, and then the realm divide happened. Every turn one or more of my allies stabbed me in the back until all I had left were vassals, and then they started. I understand the game mechanic, and I can deal with it, but it seems a bit unreasonable for a clan (whether vassal or no) to betray you after (for example) 30 years of peace and prosperity just because the Shogun says so. Maybe that's medieval Japanese culture. If so, fine. It's kind of like playing Napoleon in his campaign.

Mini-rant aside, I'm still enjoying the challenge that the realm divide brings about. My question is how to deal with it after you've had your rear end handed to you. I made the mistake of using the same strategies that I enjoyed in Medieval 2, Empire, and Napoleon. My favorite trick was to load a full army onto a ship and drop it on the other guy's shore, and then spread out from there. That worked fine here until I suddenly found out that all the nice little vassal states I created didn't like me anymore. Perhaps I should have just started at the east end of Japan and worked my way westward one province at a time. That's fine, I'll try that next time. So, what are all your strategies for when everyone tries to hog pile on you? I'm thinking about essentially giving up a few provinces to fortify the places I do want to hold onto, building up my armies again, and just trying to steamroll my way toward Kyoto.

Let me be clear that I don't have a problem with the realm divide mechanic itself, I just think that clans you have worked with over the course of a whole game should show a little more loyalty.

[deckon]

hi othniel ,

here's one tip about vassals, If you create them once you are shogun then there's no more realm divide penalty with them. So what I did was I conquered Kyoto which is one of the required regions anyways then proceeded to create vassals of any region I conquered west of kyoto. I didn't need to stop for quelling any unrest at times I was conquering 3 regions a turn ) speeds up the end game grinding

[Othniel]

I'll try that; assuming, of course, that I can fight my way to Kyoto and capture it, haha. At least I shouldn't have too much trouble with revolts. My main general has that nifty living treasure trait (or whatever its called) which gives happiness to whichever province he's in.

[eru]

I'm currently waiting for the whole game to download, so began doing a bit of a knowledge harvest on the more important aspects of the game. This ended up as a bit of a beginners guide to Shogun2:TW. I put a post in there about Realm Divide and the reasons for it:

Shogun2:TW Beginners Guide
(inc Realm Divide (RD) tips)

[Othniel]

Well, like I said, I understand the reasons for the realm divide mechanic (still not sure on the title; maybe the Shogun is trying to divide your realm?), it's more the implementation of it. Early in the game I allied with the minor clan on the island to the north of the big island (I forget the name of the clan), helped them fight off another clan (Beshu, I think?), traded with them, etc. Then they turn on me. I've no problem with clans I have little to no contact with going after me, but not longtime allies/vassals.

At any rate, I'll consolidate my holdings, rebuild my armies, and start taking provinces and turning them into vassals again as deckon suggested. I'll also keep a wary eye on the last three allies that I have. As a side question, has anyone seen clans that allied with you after the realm divide subsequently turn on you (again)?

[hellheaven1987]

Well, you can try school of mass-rebellion, which I just test in my Chosokabe campaign; basically you need to train a huge force of high rank ninja and missionaries. Immediately when you sense your neighbours try to do something suspicious, send all missionaries to start a behind-enemy-line rebellion, and enjoy to see your enemies die in a massive civil war within their clan.

[12976]

Well, you can try school of mass-rebellion, which I just test in my Chosokabe campaign; basically you need to train a huge force of high rank ninja and missionaries. Immediately when you sense your neighbours try to do something suspicious, send all missionaries to start a behind-enemy-line rebellion, and enjoy to see your enemies die in a massive civil war within their clan.

I'm really enjoying using my agents for sneaky strategy, the combo you mentioned is really useful.

[Othniel]

Hah, I'll try that once I can train missionaries. Still hurting majorly for funds due to losing nearly all my vassals and trade partners.